Stay Away
by scoob2222
Summary: Sayid and Shannon face a bump in their relationship called Boone.


Author's Note: Spoilers for Hearts and Minds. This is basically an idea that hit me about the next episode that would not go away. Hope you enjoy and please review.

Sayid slowly opened his eyes and instantly wished that he hadn't. The pain in his head seemed to come out of nowhere and it was an insistent drumming that made him want to close his eyes again, until he heard a voice. "Oh thank God, you're awake."

He was extremely confused to see a very concerned and upset Shannon leaning over him. Her usually perfectly done hair was a mess and the streaks of mascara down her face made it clear she had been crying.

"Shannon," Sayid, was finally able to say, "What happened?"

"I'm sorry," Shannon, blurted out in a rush, "this is all my fault. I should have known better."

"Known what? What happened?" he asked again, slowly sitting up, but finding him unable to. Shannon moved to help him, letting him lean against the huge rock, behind him.

"Boone, he hit you," Shannon told him, once he was comfortable and she had given him water.

Sayid's brow furrowed in confusion, "Boone? Why would your brother hit me?"

"You don't remember?" Shannon asked.

"No, I just remember carrying water back from the cave and then waking up."

"Boone met you on the beach and you got into a fight, well he attacked you, really."

Still, Sayid seemed confused and then suddenly a light seemed to dawn in his eyes as he remembered.

_Flashback_

_Sayid carried several bottles of water back to the beach for the survivors that were still there when he heard a noise behind him. He turned but saw no one, he heard the noise again, but still saw no one._

_"Is someone there?" he called, but no one answered._

_He continued down the path when he heard the noise again, "Is someone there?" he repeated._

_"Hello Sayid," he heard from behind him._

_Sayid jumped slightly as he turned towards Boone. Sayid was amazed that he had not heard the other man, his training was better than that, but he shrugged it off, "Hello Boone."_

_Sayid tried to move past Boone, but Boone stopped him. Sayid tried again, but again Boone stopped him. Finally Sayid stood back, "Is there something wrong, Boone," he asked._

_"Yeah," Boone answered, deceptively calm, "This thing with you and my sister is going to stop, now."_

_"This thing," Sayid repeated, fighting the urge to laugh at the young man who seemed to be ready for a duel._

_"Yeah, I want you to stay away from her," he repeated, "I know what you want and you're not going to get it from my sister."_

_"Hold on," Sayid said quickly, getting increasingly angry with the young man. It was true that he and Shannon had been spending a lot of time together. She was continuing to help him translate Danielle's notes and maps, but more than that they genuinely enjoyed each other's company and that was hard to find lost on a deserted island with strangers. However, Sayid certainly wasn't using Shannon or mistreating her and the implication angered him more than it probably should, "Boone I have no intention of hurting your sister. I care very much for her."_

_This seemed to only fuel Boone's anger, "You couldn't possibly care for her. You only want to hurt her. I'm only going to tell you one more time, stay away from my sister."_

_Sayid, unable to keep the challenging note out of his voice replied, "What if I don't?"_

_Boone said nothing in reply and Sayid turned away and continued down the path when suddenly he was hit from behind and everything went dark._

_Flashback ends_

"Boone hit me," Sayid repeated, "Do you know what happened after that?"

"Locke found you and knocked Boone out, Jack and Kate are watching over him."

Sayid nodded and both were a silent for a moment until noticed tears running down Shannon's face, "Shannon, are you okay?"

Shannon forced herself to stop crying and looked up at him, "I am so sorry," she said, "This is all my fault."

"Shannon, your brother hit me, you didn't do anything."

"I talked to you, I should have known better."

For what seemed like the millionth time today Sayid tried to understand what was going on around him, "Shannon why would you and I talking be a problem."

"My brother..he's….he's," Shannon was unable to get the words out and suddenly Sayid felt a fear come over him.

"Shannon, you're brother hasn't…hurt you has he."

Shannon's gaze shot up to his, "No, my brother would never hurt me. He loves me. He takes care of me. It isn't his fault Sayid, he's sick. He can't help it."

"Sick? How is he sick?"

"Nothing, never mind. I shouldn't have said anything."

"Please Shannon, tell me what's going on?" Sayid pleaded. He reached out and grabbed her hand, waiting until she was looking at him, "Whatever you say stays between the two of us."

Shannon hesitated but finally nodded, "Okay, I'll tell you." Shannon took a deep breath, trying to summon the strength to tell this story. "When I was six-years-old I was attacked, by my uncle. He tried to…to rape me."

"Shannon," Sayid began, horrified.

"Please," she said, "Don't interrupt of I won't be able to get it out."

Sayid nodded his agreement and Shannon continued, "My brother, he came in and saw what my uncle was doing, I was unconscious, I don't remember anything that happened, but I heard m parents talking about it. He attacked my uncle, he just kept hitting him. At first it did nothing, my uncle pushed him away, but he managed to get my uncle on the floor and he hit him with something. It was really heavy, and my uncle died a few days later," Shannon stopped and took a deep breath. "My parents pretended that nothing had happened. No therapy, no help, nothing. My parents, they're very rich and they never really wanted children. They mostly had us to make sure that their company would have an heir. A molesting uncle would have been a public nightmare, so they kept it under wraps, told everyone that my uncle had tripped. For a while everything was okay. I didn't even remember the attack and my brother seemed fine. Except he would sneak in during the night and sleep on my floor, but I liked having him so close by. He kept me safe, protected me."

Sayid nodded at Shannon, as she looked up at him, the love for her brother all too clearing her voice and her eyes.

"It was two years later before there was another incident. A boy at school was bothering me, calling me names, pulling my hair and my brother came over and started hitting him. He hit him over and over until finally the teachers pulled him off. My parents finally sent him to therapy. The doctor's put him on medication, but my parents never told them about what had happened with my uncle. Maybe if they had,.." Shannon trailed off. "The medications never worked, neither did the therapy. How could it when my parents forbid us from telling the psychiatrists and doctors the truth? How can you fix anything when everything you say is a lie? When I was fourteen I finally told the truth, the doctors found a better cocktail of drugs and Boone improved. Everything seemed to be okay, until my sixteenth birthday. He found me kissing my boyfriend and beat the hell out of him. I freaked out; I just couldn't take it anymore. I ran away, went to France, St. Tropez. I was so happy there, there was no stress, no fear, but my brother deteriorated without me and I had to come home. I enrolled in the same college as him and stayed away from guys. No one even knew anything was wrong, until I met a guy from Australia. He talked me into coming home with him and well; I got into a little bit of trouble. Boone had to come get me and well, that's how we ended up here. So, you can see it really is my fault."

"Shannon, none of what happened today or before is your fault. You're an innocent bystander and so is your brother. Your both victims."

Shannon began to cry softly and Sayid wrapped his arm around her, letting her cry it out. He gently kissed the top of her head as her cries quieted and pulled back slightly, "Shannon, I do not want to upset you further, but you really need to tell Jack about this at the very least. He might be able to help."

Shannon nodded, "I did tell him, not the whole story, but the important points. He and Sun are working on duplicating Boone's medication or something."

"That's good," he said.

"Yes," Shannon said, "But even if they do find an answer, Boone will still be ridiculously protective of me."

"What are you saying Shannon?"

"I'm saying that I can't help you anymore. You have to stay away from me."

"But that's ridiculous," Sayid said, louder than he intended to me, ignoring the little voice that asked why he was so upset at the idea of staying away from Shannon, "You can't speak to your brother and no one else for the rest of your life."

"Maybe not, but for now I don't have another answer. My brother will find a way to hurt anyone that he sees as a threat."

"Well you can explain to him that I'm not a threat, or I can reason with him."

"Sayid," Shannon said exasperated. "Some of the most expensive doctors in the world can't reason with him when he has an episode. If it was as simple as explaining things to him I would have done it years ago."

Sayid said nothing for a moment and Shannon began to get up, "Where are you going?" he asked.

"Boone must be awake by now. I wanted to make sure you were okay, but now I should really get back. He'll go crazy if I'm not there." But before Shannon could move Sayid grabbed her arm and pulled him closer, "So that's it," he said, "We just pretend not to notice each other."

"I think that's for the best," Shannon said quietly and sadly.

Sayid gently pulled Shannon closer to him, "Maybe I don't want to stay away from you," he said softly. Shannon smiled at him, far too sadly for a woman of only twenty and leaned in closer brushing her lips against his so light he barely felt it. Before she could move away Sayid wrapped his other arm around her bringing her closer and kissing her. Shannon struggle for a moment, but quickly gave in to the kiss, wrapping her own arms around him. As Sayid deepened the kiss everything else seemed to drop away, they forgot her brother, their surroundings and even their own names for a moment; all they felt was each other.

But eventually the kiss had to end, as all things did. Shannon looked at Sayid sadly again, "If my brother had seen that he would have killed you. That's why it can never happen again." With a small cry Shannon ran out of the tent and down the beach as fast as she could.

Sayid sat in silence for a long time, trying to figure out how he was going to stay away from the one person he wanted to be with most.


End file.
